The Room Change
by unseeablefuture
Summary: When Remus Lupin is moved into the Marauders room it takes a while for them to get used to him. All they know is he misses plenty of school, has a serious face and was caught snogging some guy round the back of the Greenhouses. They quickly fall into a friendship with him - but is that all it will be?


**This is a reupload as I'm locked out of my previous account. Hope you enjoy, there's many more chapters to come!**

—

James loved his best friend but sometimes he could be a complete idiot. In fact, he was always a complete idiot, but sometimes he was even more of a complete idiot than usual. Take today for example - James had come back from Quidditch practice, trailing mud through the common room and up the stairs to hear the sound of shouting coming from his dormitory.

"-Just because no one would touch you with a bloody barge pole anyway, Roberts, doesn't mean you have to be such an insufferable prick all the time-"

James seriously debated just turning around and going to use the Prefect bathroom, hoping by the time he returned this might have all blown over. But poor little Peter was probably in there, cowering in his bed, maybe even crying knowing him. He couldn't let it go on for too long or Peter would write home to his parents about it and he would get another lecture from them about looking after their precious baby. Sighing heavily to himself - an action that would have had more effect if someone had been around to hear it - he burst into the room.

Sirius was topless and standing on top of his trunk, spittle flying from his mouth and his face beet red. He was pointing at Roberts, who stood a few metres away, and he was visibly shaking with anger. Roberts was indeed an insufferable prick, who had only become worse when James had been chosen over him to become Prefect, but usually they didn't say it to his face. Sirius seemed to have forgotten this.

Suddenly Sirius spied James and rounded on him too, "Prongs, tell this idiot that none of us even like him anyway and we only tolerate his presence-"

He was prevented from saying anything however by Roberts who had now started his own angry tirade. "Black, you humongous prat, everyone thinks you're entirely abhorrent and God knows how you even ended up in this house with your slimy family-"

Sirius' family _were _slimy. James knew this, Sirius knew this, and probably the Black family themselves knew this. James didn't much enjoy visiting the Black household, particularly if Bellatrix was over or Narcissa, and so the two of them tended to hang out at the Potters whenever possible. However, despite everyone knowing that the Blacks were not the best bunch, it was an unspoken rule (in basically the entire Wizarding community) that you didn't actually say it out loud - particularly to a member of the family.

Sirius was known for being fairly hot-headed, and it wasn't unusual for him to go into a rage, but the look in his eyes today was positively murderous. Sirius leapt off his trunk, and flew towards Roberts who closed his eyes in preparation. James, thanks to his lightning fast Seeker reflexes managed to just grab Sirius in time. He'd never much fancied visiting Azkaban and so really it was a matter of self-preservation, but he also didn't reckon that Sirius would hold up well there. Though, on the plus side, he imagined it would make family reunions one bit easier…

Sirius fought against James and was still shouting, spit flying and his words merging into something entirely unintelligible. James was starting to worry he wouldn't be able to hold him much longer, his muscles desperately sore from a long quidditch practice, but Roberts made a move suddenly.

"I have no intention of staying in this dormitory a moment longer, when such neanderthals live here too. I'm going to McGonagall now, and I'm telling her exactly what has happened, every single word of it."

Roberts stormed from the room and Sirius broke free from James' grasp, almost at the exact same time. Sirius watched the other boy retreat and then rounded on his best friend, yelling, "Why didn't you let me beat him up?"

James debated making his quip about Black family reunions in Azkaban but decided to leave it for now. "Come on, Pads, Roberts really isn't worth losing Hogsmeade visits for the next year, is he?" Both boys knew that the next time they got into something big that they would be losing this privilege.

"I don't know, it might have just been," Sirius said, as his face started to return to it's normal colour.

James finally noticed Peter sitting against the headboard of his bed, knees curled up to his chest and his face lacking all the colour that Sirius' had gained. "Peter, why don't you go and get us a snack from the kitchens. The elves always make a fresh batch of biscuits on a Saturday afternoon and I'm sure Olvie will give you a few. He likes you."

Peter did not need to be told twice and moved faster from his best than James had probably ever seen him move before. He scurried out of the room, looking remarkably rat-like, and the door banged shut behind him. Sirius moved over towards the window, looking down at the grounds below.

"Sirius, mate, you've got to get that temper in check," James warned softly. "Roberts is a git but you can't go beating him up just because of that. If you get expelled then I'm not gonna stay here either, and then Mum and Dad would disown me for not getting an education, and then we'd both be poor and living in some hovel-"

"I wouldn't care." Sirius had always been stubborn. "I don't exactly plan on moving back to the Manor after school finishes anyway. We always said we wanted to live together after school, why not speed up the process?"

"Yeah, but you'd never have some of Mum's pumpkin pie again and that would kill you a bit," James said, trying to talk his friend round. "And Dad said if you stay for a few weeks this summer then he's going to teach you how to conjure a patronus, and I know you've wanted to learn that for ages."

Sirius was silent for a minute and then mumbled something.

"What?" James said.

"I said, probably not worth it then." Sirius was often a lot of talk mixed with impulsive actions, but he usually could be talked around given enough time. James just wished they had slightly less outbursts because he was honestly a bit sick of having detention with Sirius and having to clean out the slug barrels in the Dungeons.

20 minutes later and the two boys were laughing on their beds, throwing each other Every Flavour Beans and trying to guess the flavour before they caught it. Sirius was just frantically scraping at his tongue, trying to rid his mouth of the horrendous vomit flavoured sweet, when Peter returned, mouth and hands full of biscuits. He tried to say something to the other boys but his mouth was too full and he began to choke a bit. Once he had recovered and the boys had stopped laughing at his ridiculous breathing noises, he managed to say, "McGonagall wants to see us in her office."

"Now?" James said, sighing. This time it had the effect of making Sirius look guilty and whilst it was nice to get some reaction that hadn't been his intention to make his friend feel bad. "Hang on, let me just change."

By the time the three boys walked to McGonagall's office, James was really wishing he had been afforded time to shower too, the mud from practice making his body itch awfully. As they arrived at her slim door Roberts was leaving and James put a hand out to stop Sirius from reacting as he pulled a face as he walked by. Sirius glared back but said nothing - despite being a complete idiot he knew when _really _wasn't a good time to get into a fight. They approached the door and hesitated, none of them really wanting to knock. James felt it really should have been Sirius, as it was his fault the three of them were here in the first place, but knew that he probably wouldn't see it that way. Peter hovered behind the two others, and James could feel the nervous tension coming off of him. James reached out and knocked. Silence. Then - "Come in."

McGonagall's Office was a weird mix of warm and cold - the Gryffindor colours making it feel cosy, but the lack of personal items and McGonagall's own demeanour preventing it from really feeling warm. McGonagall was sat behind her desk, writing something on some parchment, and as they walked up to it she fixed them all with her beady-eyed stare.

"Mr Potter, Mr Black, Mr Pettigrew, take a seat."

The three silently sank into the hard wooden seats, shifting to try and find any sort of comfort from them. They did not succeed. "Gentlemen, why do you think I've called you here?"

"Professor, Roberts started it, saying all sorts of rubbish about my family and he was-"

"Mr Black, did I ask you what happened between you and Mr Roberts? No. However, you are correct in thinking that it is because of this that I have called you here. I thought we had been quite on the same page the last time we spoke - a mere few weeks ago - that any more trouble from the three of you would result in some rather dire consequences. Had you actually lay a finger on the boy we would be here discussing expulsion, Mr Black. As for you, Potter and Pettigrew-"

Sirius couldn't help interrupting. "Professor, it wasn't them that had an argument with Roberts, it was me. Peter was hiding under his covers during it, and Prongs only just got back from Quidditch as it was ending-"

"Mr Black, I don't recall asking you a question." Silence fell again. "They will not be punished for this argument as, like you say, they were not really involved. In fact I hear Mr Potter might have prevented an escalation of the event, which is pleasing as otherwise we may be considering his status as a Prefect." James flushed, hoping that he never got into a bad enough situation that he was removed as Prefect.

"You, Mr Black, will have Detention every night for a fortnight. I believe Professor Slughorn has some tasks which require completion and I'm quite sure he wouldn't regret the assistance. However, I have called you all here because it remains apparent that you do not get along with Mr Roberts. Luckily for you there is a solution to that - a student from the other dormitory also is finding it… challenging to gel with his own dormitory and so would benefit from a swap."

"Who is it, Professor?" Peter asked, his squeaky voice finally finding itself.

"Remus Lupin will be joining your Dormitory effective immediately. You will make an effort to include him and will certainly be pleasant to him. If I hear of any more conflict then you shall be in here again - with your parents as well - and the conversation will not be as pleasant as this one. Do I make myself clear?"

The three boys nodded and mumbled agreements, and she released them with a stern glare, as they hurried out of her room and back to their own.

—

Upon arrival back at their dormitory Roberts and all his belongings had already disappeared. In their place were some scruffier looking items, neatly stored, but no sign of the boy they belonged to. James had never had much to do with Lupin, despite the two being in the same house and year. The other dormitory had five boys in it, one of which was Lupin and another their friend Frank Longbottom, but otherwise they largely didn't interact with them. All James really knew of Lupin was that he was quiet, intelligent, and often went off school for days at a time. Frank had once told him that he reckoned Lupin had something going on at home, because Lupin would go for a couple of days and come back completely drained, barely awake enough to attend lessons or eat. Lupin always looked fairly pale, and he was also pretty thin too, but James had never really thought much of it, wrapped up in his own world with his own friends.

"Where do you think he is?" Peter asked them.

"I don't know, Petey, I'm not a bleeding map," Sirius said, throwing himself down on his bed. "I don't know much about him actually."

"I know something," Peter said, as James rummaged around in his trunk to find his towel for that long awaited shower. He was desperately hoping he'd left his shampoo in there from last time, and hadn't left it in the Prefect bathroom where it would have no doubt disappeared.

"What do you know then, Peter?" Sirius asked, sounding bored.

"I know he's a homosexual," Peter said, and James dropped his conditioner loudly. "I heard that from Amelia, she said he'd been caught snogging someone in their house - MacMillan or someone - after Herbology one day."

"Amelia Bones is a dreadful gossip, Peter," Sirius said, sounding rather like an older brother patronising his younger one, "You shouldn't listen to half the rubbish that comes out of her mouth. She once claimed that James had shagged Evans even though we know he's managed nothing of the sort."

James lobbed his shampoo at Sirius' head, missing him by mere centimetres, which caused a grin to spread over the boy's face.

—

Peter, Sirius and James had a quiet evening, waiting for their new arrival to come, but it reached midnight before he did. Knowing that tomorrow they wanted to get up early to get to Hogsmeade the three agreed to go to bed. Peter was asleep first, as always, his warm milk having knocked him right out. James' snoring filled the room before long, leaving Sirius the sole person awake. As he muttered to himself about how much of a dolt Roberts was and thought up comebacks which would have been so good at the time, he heard someone coming up the stairs and then their door opening.

A shadowy figure entered the room, and Sirius thought it must be Lupin coming in finally. Lupin tripped as he walked, and hissed out some breath in pain.

"You alright?" Sirius whispered, and even in the dark Sirius could see Lupin jump.

"I'm fine," Lupin said, adding nothing else.

Sirius shrugged to himself in the dark, and rolled over, wondering briefly what it would be like having a new dormitory member before he himself was asleep.

—

Sirius awoke the next morning by having all the air knocked out of his lungs. Peter had flung himself on top of him on the bed, screeching about Hogsmeade and all the sweets he wanted to buy. Once Sirius had shoved him onto the floor he sat up, seeing lying in bed, pretending he wasn't awake. He glanced over to Lupin's bed but the curtains were drawn tightly around it. Once he had sufficiently annoyed James enough to get him out of bed, and wrestling on the floor, the three of them got dressed, getting ready to go down for breakfast and then out for the day.

"Do you think we should invite him?" Peter asked, just as they were about to leave.

"What time did he even get here last night?" James mused, looking over at the curtains.

"I think it was about one," Sirius said, struggling to tie his laces, "He tripped as he was coming in and then went straight to bed basically. He's probably pretty tired."

"We should probably ask though," James said, and the three of them paused. Eventually James said, a little louder, "Lupin? Are you awake? Do you want to come to Hogsmeade with us?"

"No," came the quiet reply, without the curtains opening, "Thank you."

The three boys each felt a sense of relief - they relished the chance to spend a full day just the three of them, and it might be awkward having someone else tag along. As they hurried downstairs to breakfast they quickly forgot all about Remus Lupin, and started thinking about how much Butterbeer they could drink.

—

Sirius knew he should have taken a scarf or some gloves with him but he'd foolishly believed he was tough enough not to need them. He knew he wouldn't be able to make the journey back to the castle without freezing to death, and so whilst the other two looked at some quills in another shop he went to find a place that would sell him something warm. He rounded a corner, eyes flitting from sign to sign above windows, when he accidentally shoved right into someone, almost knocking them to the ground. He managed to shoot a hand out and grab theirs, before realising it was their forgotten new dorm mate.

"Sorry, Lupin," he said, "I didn't see you there-"

"Well, well, well, Lupin's found himself someone else to touch," came the slimy voice of Lucius Malfoy behind them, "I knew Gryffindor were a close bunch but I didn't realise you were all _that _close."

"Fuck off, Malfoy," Sirius said. Remus quickly removed his hand from Sirius' and the other boy immediately noticed how cold it felt again. "Don't you have some little kids to bully?"

Lucius Malfoy was now only a couple of feet away from them, his face curled up into a sneer. "I doubt Narcissa would like to hear about who her cousin is choosing to spend his time with, much less the rest of your family. You know how they feel about filthy blood traitors like his father." Lucius was gearing up to say something else, when out of nowhere his feet flew from beneath him, and his robe flapped past his head, as he hung several feet above the ground.

Lupin looked absolutely shocked, looking around to try and work out what might have happened, but Sirius knew exactly who was responsible for this. He could hear James' laughter as he walked up to them, and Sirius began to laugh too. Malfoy's henchmen were trying furiously to return him to a standing position but simply couldn't seem to figure it out.

"Oops, Malfoy, it does look like you might have lost it a bit," James said, as Peter waddled up to them too. "I wouldn't bother _hanging _around much longer. You're really not as funny as you think you are."

"Stay out of this, Potter." Lucius' usually pale skin was flushing a reddish pink as the blood ran to his head. "You don't have to defend Lupin. Stick to defending your mudblood girlfriend instead." James' ears went pink at the tips but he didn't say anything. He simply drew back his fist and punched him in the face. Detentions be damned, he already knew he would have Sirius' company if Malfoy dared to report it.

"Leave my friends alone," James hissed, his face as close to Malfoy's as he ever wanted to get. With a flick of his wrist Malfoy fell to the floor in a heap, his nose bleeding onto the snow. James grabbed Lupin and Sirius by their arms and dragged them away before the Slytherins could retaliate, Peter quickly following behind.

Once they were out of sight of the Slytherins, and James and Sirius had stopped laughing at how stupid Lucius' nose had looked, Remus spoke. "You didn't have to do that. I could have handled it."

"Yeah, we know that," Sirius said, rolling his eyes, "But if we're going to be friends then we need to start as we mean to go on."

—

**So… what did you think? This is only the first chapter of course and there will be plenty more to come in due time. I'm going to try and upload another by the end of the week, it's nearly written! Would love reviews / feedback / whatever. **

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